Sourabhs20
Member
- Joined
- 1 Jan 2015
- Messages
- 511
- Reaction score
- 286
Snapdragon 821 launched, Qualcomm says it's 10% faster than Snapdragon 820
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 has been received
well. But the chip maker is not resting on its
laurels. On Monday the company announced the
Snapdragon 821, a processor that it claims is 10
per cent faster than the Snapdragon 820.
The speed boost, however, seems to be coming
from the higher clock speed and not from any
architectural changes. This indicates that the
Snapdragon 821 is a minor upgrade, made possible
by a more mature foundry process.
"The Snapdragon 821 is engineered to deliver a
10% performance increase over the 820 with the
Qualcomm Kryo quad-core CPU, reaching speeds
up to 2.4GHz," a Qualcomm spokesperson said.
The processor continues to use the same Adreno
530 graphics chip that is inside the Snapdragon
820. "Why would you introduce something to
replace what many consider the best mobile
processor available today? Simple, we're not.
Simple, we're not. Rather than replace the
Snapdragon 820, the 821 is designed to
complement and extend the competitive strengths
of our Snapdragon 800 lineup," said the
spokesperson.
In a bid to assure smartphone consumers that the
Snapdragon 820 is not going to be replaced by the
Snapdragon 821 and that the older processor
remains a force to reckon with, Qualcomm said
that the new chip will co-exist with the other one.
The iterative launches like the Snapdragon 821 are
fairly common in the world of processors. When
Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon 820, it was
one of the first chips to be fabbed with 14nm
process, although it has not been officially
confirmed. This is a new process and as it happens
with the new fab processes, the speed of the
processor could be limited compared to their full
potential. Hence two versions of the Snapdragon
820 -- one running at 1.8GHz and the other at
2.2GHz -- were launched. A few months later, it
is possible that the 14nm manufacturing process is
mature enough to allow higher clocked processors.
These higher clocked chips are possibly Snapdragon
821.
In other words what it means is that phone
consumers should not expect any meaningful
difference in the performance or battery life of
the Snapdragon 821-powered phones compared to
those powered by the Snapdragon 820. In the
smartphone market, where the developers and
phone makers are still hoping to get the maximum
out of the older processors, a theoretical boost of
10 per cent in performance is likely to be
negligible.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 has been received
well. But the chip maker is not resting on its
laurels. On Monday the company announced the
Snapdragon 821, a processor that it claims is 10
per cent faster than the Snapdragon 820.
The speed boost, however, seems to be coming
from the higher clock speed and not from any
architectural changes. This indicates that the
Snapdragon 821 is a minor upgrade, made possible
by a more mature foundry process.
"The Snapdragon 821 is engineered to deliver a
10% performance increase over the 820 with the
Qualcomm Kryo quad-core CPU, reaching speeds
up to 2.4GHz," a Qualcomm spokesperson said.
The processor continues to use the same Adreno
530 graphics chip that is inside the Snapdragon
820. "Why would you introduce something to
replace what many consider the best mobile
processor available today? Simple, we're not.
Simple, we're not. Rather than replace the
Snapdragon 820, the 821 is designed to
complement and extend the competitive strengths
of our Snapdragon 800 lineup," said the
spokesperson.
In a bid to assure smartphone consumers that the
Snapdragon 820 is not going to be replaced by the
Snapdragon 821 and that the older processor
remains a force to reckon with, Qualcomm said
that the new chip will co-exist with the other one.
The iterative launches like the Snapdragon 821 are
fairly common in the world of processors. When
Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon 820, it was
one of the first chips to be fabbed with 14nm
process, although it has not been officially
confirmed. This is a new process and as it happens
with the new fab processes, the speed of the
processor could be limited compared to their full
potential. Hence two versions of the Snapdragon
820 -- one running at 1.8GHz and the other at
2.2GHz -- were launched. A few months later, it
is possible that the 14nm manufacturing process is
mature enough to allow higher clocked processors.
These higher clocked chips are possibly Snapdragon
821.
In other words what it means is that phone
consumers should not expect any meaningful
difference in the performance or battery life of
the Snapdragon 821-powered phones compared to
those powered by the Snapdragon 820. In the
smartphone market, where the developers and
phone makers are still hoping to get the maximum
out of the older processors, a theoretical boost of
10 per cent in performance is likely to be
negligible.
